God - this makes Mesa look appealing. It used to be that way over here, but not any more. Let me know what I can do to help. I hope it gets better for you guys - and quick. Don't put up with their crap.

 

Wow, JA is a foreign word over at RAH. I know a lot of people like to complain about our pay rates, but at least I go home after my trip ends, when it is suppose to end.

 

I am mentally preparing myself for a really rough period ahead. Junior man calls, extensions, contract violations, anything this company can do to try and get us to go to our union leaders and say just sign it already. Every Pinnacle pilot needs to be sure that all of this does not get to them and affect their performance in the flight deck. If you are getting done with a trip and you are tired and they nail you for an extension, refuse it. If you have already used a refusal it, call in fatigued and fill out a flight safety report. If you are sick, call in sick. If you have to go to a base managers meeting for it, do it. All of this stuff going on is going to stress everyone out but its important that we stay safe and that we fly the contract.

 

Our current contract may suck but you need to READ IT and OBEY BY IT! You can only be extended twice in a month or 9 times in any rolling 12 month period. Each calender month you also have the right to refuse one extension. Even a JA is only permitted 3 times a month or a total of 12 times in a 12 month period. You are entitled to comp days for EACH day that you were dropped below 10 days off. Take a look at the contract- specifically LOA 05-03, 05-01, and 03-01. Tell scheduling NO when you know you are right or are unable to complete an assignment safely. Call duty daddy or a rep. These issues are clearly discussed in the 10 year old contract and scheduling will push you as far as they can to complete the flight- it is your job to tell them "no".

 

I have a meeting myself next week for telling scheduling that I needed rest beyond the reduced rest or I would call in fatigue. They put the delay on me, I showed when I told them (9 hours after we got off the phone) and I will tell the base mgr that when I go in for a meeting. After reduced rest and 2 very long days of wx, mx, and scheduling changes my CA had already dropped the F bomb 8 hours prior. Do not be intimidated by scheduling. Know the contract and don't be pushed to fly fatigued. If you are fatigued- Drop the F bomb and fill out your flight safety form. Your entire career and life(s) are on the line. Company preaches "never compromise safety", so don't. The high school educated and hardly understandable scheduler can only do 2 things- get the trip on your schedule or mark you NFA. Simply tell them "do what you need to do". Make sure you are legal, make sure you know your rights, and make sure you are safe. By doing that you may have to meet your base mgr, but you won't be getting disciplined for abiding by the FAA, the contract, and your own physiological needs. That being said, this issue should not come up often at all. Many times a simple "let me speak to your supervisor" will clear up contractual issues. They love it when they are told they are wrong and which page to look on!

 

Oh and let me add also - if you guys need any help with this JRA crap, fatigue stuff, bs, bs, bs... please stop a Mesa pilot, or email me here. I'd be more than glad to help you all out or put you in touch with some folks on our end that have a lot of experience dealing with stuff like this. I'd be more than happy to spend my free time helping you guys at Pinnacle out, and if you'd let me - I'd even join a picket line with you all. Please let me know how I could help.

 

While I'm sure we all appreciate the thoughts of unity and such, I know of one thing you could do as a Mesa pilot--tell your fellow pilots not to sign a concessionary contract next time.

We didn't sign the one that was put in front of us not too long ago, even when we knew it would mean losing 15 planes to Mesaba and possible furloughs. You guys (not saying you personally) signed one, which will actually lessen any future raise we get.

And to all the guys on here complaining about how horrible it is at 9E, we're normally staffed now on FOs with the displacement finalized. Irops and block will decrease as winter begins to subside.

I'm not sure if you guys are on reserve or hispeeds or what, but I haven't heard a reg line holder getting extended or JA'd since the holidays...

Devil's advocate (I'm not defending the company, just throwing this out there): we'd all be on reserve or even furloughed at 90% of other regionals...while this does not excuse the company from giving us a fair contract and a raise, it's also something to think about if they LEGALLY extend you into an off day or JA you (if you know your contract and are smart about it, it is almost impossible to get JA'd, since they very rarely have assignments outside far enough in the future when you checkout at like 6PM).

If you know your regs, and the contract, and aren't a complete lackey about it when scheduling trying to screw with you, you shouldn't have near as many problems as some of you guys are claiming.

 

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First I want to say that I am not trying to start a fight about this, just trying to add information to this conversation. That and I am really bored right now.

I am a line holder and was JA'd once in January (I refused it and had my meeting with Dave) and have now been called at least twice, but I think three times, in Feb for JA's. I just don't answer the phone on my days off. The funniest part about this month though is that I am out on workman's comp and they are still calling me. The call always starts off "I know your hurt right now, but, if you are feeling up to it, we could use some help."

I hope that we are better staffed on the FO side now that the displacements are through. That being said, I really wish that the staffing had been a result of hiring more people instead of how it went down.

Good luck to all and be safe.

 

That's what I think some people fail to differentiate--there is a huge difference between someone's phone going off on all of their off days with scheduling trying to JA. It is a much different issue if they are actually being JA'ed into off days every string of days off.

The number of people who have been called/number of times someone is called on OFF days isn't a good indicator of the amount of JA'ing going on, because it's scheduling's philosophy to call everyone who is on off days first before using their reserves.

It seems like what happens sometimes is that 1) someone calls in sick/times out, 2) They call all lineholders off work an available on that day (lots), and 3) if none of #2 is dumb enough to answer their phone on an off day, they'll put it on a reserve who was able to do it the whole time anyways. This creates the perception among many people that we are short-staffed. It really just means the companys scheduling policies suck for us. Now if some reserve comes on here and says he/she has been flying over guarnatee every month, THAT's a sign we're understaffed.